The Divine Wings of Tragedy
by Eric A
Summary: In the aftermath of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife considers doing the impossible, no matter the cost to Tifa...
1. Default Chapter Title

The Divine Wings of Tragedy

Prelude: Of Sins and Shadows

Night fell over Nibelheim, the town empty of all souls except for two:

No one had truly lived in Nibelheim since the day years before when Sephiroth, the man that would come to be known as the Destroyer, had began walking the bloody road that had led him to his ultimate fate, killing everyone that lived there. It was something of a mystery as to how the town had returned to it's state before Sephiroth's rampage: some whispered that the Shinra Corporation had rebuilt the town as part of an attempt to cover up the extent that its greatest fighter, the paragon of SOLDIER, had gone mad. Others of a more superstitious bend had claimed that the town had been reborn out of the will of the Destroyer himself, for a nefarious and uncertain purpose. Whatever the true reason was, after the defeat of Sephiroth and the chaos that had fallen on the Shinra with the fall of Midgar, Nibelheim had become deserted, a ghost town, which was why Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart had chosen to go there in the aftermath of their wars. Both had been born there, both had grown up there and both had lost family there, at the hands of Sephiroth, and it was, in theory at least the perfect place for both to recover from their scars. They remained in contact with the remainder of the band that had fought the war against the Shinra and Sephiroth, who were at present helping Barret Wallace rebuild the town of North Corel, by PHS, and every month or so supplies were dropped off by the rebuilt airship Highwind, but, basically Cloud and Tifa were on their own.

Which, perhaps, was part of the problem…

__

Cloud Strife dreamed:

Every night for a year, he saw the same thing in his dreams, that terrible day in the crystal city beneath the Forgotten City, when Sephiroth had stripped all meaning and sanity from the world with a single stab of his sword. He relived that moment when he was awake, far more often than he let on to Tifa, but in his dreams he relived the moment as it had felt then. He could feel her blood as it poured from her heart onto his hands and onto the blade of his sword, the sword that he had nearly killed her with himself, could feel the warmth as it left her body with the soul that he had loved and never forgotten. He dreamed that every night, and had come to accept it as a burden on his soul forever, for his weakness, for his failure in dealing with Sephiroth, and in fact had grown to almost look forward to the dream. Because even though she died in the dream, for a few, brief, shining moments, Aeris lived in his mind. 

On this night, though, the dream changed, although at first Cloud could not tell you in what way.

As always, he walked down the crystal stairs that led to the endless green pool beneath the Forgotten City, those who had been there with him (Tifa and Barret) mere shadows at his side. He was aware that the sword he carried with him, slung over his back, was not that of the one he had used that day, but the awesome Ultima Weapon, a fact that he can tell by the mere weight of the gigantic war blade on his back. He looked down and saw Aeris, on the platform at the center of the pool, praying for the power that should have saved them, the power of Holy, the power that had failed. It occurred to him, for the first time, that if he had the ability to do so, he could save Aeris by going not to her, but to where Sephiroth hid and killing the bastard then and there…or by simply warning Aeris by speaking. Yet he did not. He wondered, as he drew closer to her, if perhaps he **enjoyed **seeing her die, in some sick, warped fashion; it was a thought that he had had before, on those nights when he succumbed to weakness and her presence and spent the night with Tifa. Perhaps part of him, the weak part that Sephiroth had used to control him did. Most of him doubted that.

He stepped out onto the platform that was level with the pool, and as before, he told Tifa and Barret to stay back, to allow him to deal with this, and, inexplicably, they did. He had already demonstrated the capability of doing physical harm to Aeris at the Temple of the Ancients, and yet they had let him go to her. Had they wanted her dead? Had Tifa hated Aeris to the point that she had allowed him to go to her, knowing the violence that he was capable of, so he would eliminate her rival? Thoughts such as these have occurred to him before, and usually he suppressed such thoughts…tonight, he does not. He stepped across the platforms that led to Aeris, who as before does not move, lost in prayer. She had to know her death was coming, Cloud thought as he reaches over his shoulder and draws, as he had thought, Ultima Weapon from it's place and lifts it over his head. Curiously, he does not feel the presence of Sephiroth's will in his mind, and he realized that he had never felt the force that moved him that day in any of his dreams. He wondered why as Ultima Weapon rushes towards Aeris' face, waiting for Barret's shout to stop him and the dream to continue on it's normal course.

Which was when Aeris said, in a whisper "Why haven't you saved me?"

Cloud froze in place, his heart stopping in his chest. "What did you say?" he asked.

Aeris looked up at him, her eyes that same shade of tranquil green that he had always been struck by and had loved. "Why haven't you saved me Cloud? You know the way, the path…you've known it since our souls met after you defeated Sephiroth…why do you wait…?"

Cloud found he had no good answer. "I…I do not know why, Aeris. Perhaps I'm afraid to try to save you. Or perhaps the dead should stay in their place." 

"Is that you speaking, or the voice of others speaking for you?" Aeris asked.

Cloud knew what she meant: he had wanted to journey to the Promised Land, to the place where spirit and life met most closely, from the moment he had realized that he could find his way to her there, and always something had stopped him. Reeve, who had declared the Northern Crater off-limits after the fallout from Meteor had settled; Barret, who had finally learned how to let go of the past after the salvation of the Planet, and, yes, Tifa, who had not said anything, but whose desires weren't all that well hidden in the need that she showed in her ruby eyes. All of these forces had gotten in his way, and he had let Aeris go…let saving the closest thing to an angel the world had ever known stay dead. "I…I want to save you," he confessed.

"Then do so, Cloud. Save me…you don't have to love me…just save me."

The dream began to fade then, and Cloud knew that he had finally found his way.

Cloud awoke in the bed that he had spent his childhood in, alone, the sound of Aeris' voice still ringing in his ears. He sat up, one hand going to the mattress beside of him, and he found it cool to the touch. Tifa had been there earlier, her sadness and loneliness again tempting him into a night of desperate lovemaking that had seemed less an act of love and more an act of contrition. She always left him alone after giving herself to him, and Cloud had been content to let that happen, but now, he was not that certain if he appreciated it. _Keeping me here, in a town of the dead, all to herself, for her pathetic needs…_

Pain filled Cloud's head then, the same agony that had come to him when Sephiroth had tried to control him, and he gripped his skull with both hands…_No, that's not it! Tifa loves me! I'm the user here! She has always wanted to help you; she saved you from the darkness of your past!_

She saved you? The darker voice within him asked, mockingly. _She waited until her inaction had left you nearly dead, left the world at risk, left Aeris dead! Then she deemed it worthy to help you!_

"No," Cloud whispered. "She isn't like that…she was just scared…"

__

Scared of what? Of losing you to a ghost, a ghost that you can save!

"Aeris," Cloud said, and with that the doubt faded. He got out of bed and got dressed in his standard combat gear, the clothes that he had been given by Zack after their escape from Nibelheim and that he now wore to honor the friend that had given his life to save him. He put on his armour, the Safety Bit accessory that had proven so useful in the Northern Crater, and collected his materia from the drawer of the nightstand beside of the bed. A part of him found it humorous that he could store his materia so carelessly after all the times that Yuffie Kisaragi had threatened to (and had in fact had managed to) steal his materia. "Times change Yuffie," he thought, placing the materia in the slots of his Escort Guard. Finally, he took the sheath that held Ultima Weapon from its place in the corner of the room. The most powerful blade in existence, forged out of the very form of one of the WEAPONS itself, it made Cloud perhaps the strongest fighter alive. Certainly strong enough to achieve what everyone thought to be impossible. He slipped Ultima Weapon over his shoulder and for one last second thought about what he was doing. _I could be happy with Tifa. That was why we came here, to try to make sense of the madness of our lives. But is it wrong for me to try to save Aeris when her death was such a crime?_

The pain shook Cloud again, and even as he dealt with it, he realized that he had no choice…saving Aeris was his destiny. With a sigh that he did not even realize he had uttered, Cloud stepped out into the night and turned his back on his past forever…

The night was still beautiful, Tifa Lockhart thought.

She sat on the well at the center of town, the same well that, years ago, a young Cloud Strife had asked her to meet him at, to tell her that he was leaving Nibelheim to try to become a member of SOLDIER. That night, as was the case now, the sky overhead had been a canopy of stars, the constellations wheeling in endless, perfect symmetry. As the years had passed, Tifa had convinced herself that the beauty of that night had been a trick of memory, but sitting here, she was forced to admit that it was the case, that it was beautiful at night here. That at least had not changed. So much more had, after all. She hugged her knees to her chest and tried not to dwell on the darkness of her life, of what had motivated her to come here, alone, nearly every night to watch the stars. Most nights she fell asleep here, some nights her eyes filled with bitter tears. _How did we come to this? _she wondered. _How did Cloud and me ever come to this?_

It was supposed to be different, she knew; it always was supposed to be different when you were in love. Her love for Cloud had been forged through the horrors of the war against Sephiroth, through their combined experience in the Lifestream, and on the night before they all had ventured into the Northern Crater, making love under the stars…all of that should have earned her a happy ending. She had not yet found one. Coming to Nibelheim was supposed to bridge their past and present, heal their mutual scars…her loss of her father, his loss of his mother…that Nibelheim represented. Instead, their lives had spiraled into a pattern of madness and isolation, Cloud becoming more detached by the day. Desperately, she had tried anything to hold his attention; finally offering herself to him as if the meaningless sex they had could replace true love. Of late, the nights that she spent with him were filling her with shame, especially since, at times, the name he called out at the climax of the act was seldom hers. _Aeris,_ she thought. 

It was not like she hated Aeris; in fact, despite the fact that both of them had been vying for Cloud's affections, she had considered the beautiful young Cetra to be a friend, a rather good one at that. Her death at the hands of Sephiroth had been clearly a tragedy, and she had missed Aeris greatly…but in Cloud's case, it was different. Cloud was two people, the broken child and the crude copy of Zack that Hojo's experiments had inadvertently created, and both had cared for Aeris in different ways. And all of that had gotten mixed up with Cloud's fears and doubts and had created the weakness that was eating away at him…the weakness that she fed by succumbing to her own desires. As sad as her life was now, she was with Cloud, and would be so until she died…

The door to his mother's home opened, and Cloud, in full battle dress, marched out into the town square. Tifa nearly called his name, then she saw the look in his eyes, his blue Mako eyes; he was not there, not really. She stood up, pulling her robe tighter around herself, and watched as Cloud made his way to the makeshift chocobo stable that they had built at the end of the row of homes that led to the Shinra Mansion, not much more than a shed that held her Black chocobo and Cloud's Gold chocobo. She frowned and got to her feet as Cloud opened the doors and went in. _Where is he going?_ She leaped down to the ground and ran over to the shed, arriving just in time to see Cloud take his saddle and place it on the back of his chocobo, Strider. Her Black chocobo, Emmy (named for a dog that she had once owned) made nervous "wark" sounds, stamping her feet in her stable; Strider did not seem too happy either. "Cloud? Where are you going?" she asked him.

Cloud strapped the saddle on and tightened the straps on it before he said, "I'm through with Nibelheim, Tifa. I'm going to save Aeris."

"To…save Aeris? Cloud…Cloud, she's dead." This was what Tifa had feared, what she had hoped to avoid, why she was secretly pleased that Reeve had ordered the Northern Crater off-limits, at least to what remnants of the Shinra that obeyed him. Aeris was dead. Nothing could change that. "You can't save her."

"I can and I will. She asked me to, Tifa."

Tifa took a step closer to him. "When…when did she ask you to?"

"Tonight, in my dreams. She spoke to me in my dreams before, when she left to go to the Forgotten City…it's not impossible."

__

But she was alive then; Tifa thought but did not say. "Cloud, she's gone. You buried her yourself."

"Only her body. I can save her soul…if I can reach it. The Promised Land…it's her only chance."

Tifa was terrified. Cloud had never behaved like this, speaking with his normal total certainty yet everything else about him the broken, submissive manner he had as a thrall of Sephiroth. Perhaps there was more than one way to lose your mind…"Cloud, you know that Reeve closed off the Northern Crater…"

"Who said that the Promised Land was there?" Cloud took Strider by the reins and led the chocobo towards the door. "I will find her, Tifa."

Tifa reached out, meaning to take Cloud by the shoulder. "Cloud…"

With a frightening casualness, Cloud backhanded Tifa across the face, the blow a light one by his awesome strength but still enough to knock her to the ground, seeing stars. Emmy let out a squeal of protest at seeing her mistress suffer, but quieted as Cloud shot the chocobo a baleful gaze. " I don't want you," he spat coldly at her. "Follow me and I will kill you, Tifa."

Tifa lay on the ground, weeping, as Cloud mounted Strider and rode off into the night. _Oh Cloud, why? What are you trying to do now?_ She cried because of the pain she felt, cried for the loss of her friend and loved one, and cried because, to her everlasting shame, she still loved Cloud Strife.

Cloud rode in the darkness, uncertain of his destination, part of him burning in misery at what he had done to Tifa, but that was buried under his overwhelming need to save the one thing that meant more than anything had to him…to save Aeris from the darkness of death. He rode off, under the stars that had watched him make the same sort of promise to Tifa, all those years ago…


	2. Default Chapter Title

Part One:

It always came down to the morally difficult choices, Reeve mused.

It seemed that his entire career of public service with the Shinra had been marked by a series of choices where he would be forced to do something that compromised his ethics in the service of the common good. He had rationalized it as being the things one had to do to help the ones who needed help, though during his days in Midgar the Shinra had done precious little to help the common folk. And now, with the Planet in upheaval in the aftermath of Meteor and the fracturing of the Shinra into two camps, Reeve found himself on many occasions doing things he found offensive. Taking over the Gold Saucer, transforming it into a fortress to match the one that Palmer had built out of Upper Junon, was the least of his crimes. He had needed a base of operations that was easy to defend, and with most of the group he had traveled with in the guise of Cait Sith living on the Western Continent, that had actually been an easy choice. Allying himself with elements of SOLDIER, the Shinra's superhuman army that had enforced the corporation's brutal rule, that had been a harder choice. But Palmer had taken two battalions of SOLDIER with him into Junon, and Reeve had been faced with the unpleasant prospect of facing that force with normal armed forces. So he had rationalized that by saying that "his" SOLDIER would operate under fair and decent rules, and left it at that.

But some things were harder to rationalize.

Reeve sat in his office, which had belonged once to the administrative manager of the Gold Saucer, looking at a report that his Intelligence division had given him just a few minutes before. He knew that someone looking at him, in the luxurious office, sitting behind a desk made out of what appeared to be wood but was actually a ceramic-plastic designed to survive the impact of heavy weapons or high level magic, would see a businessman. Reeve still wore the same suits he wore to work in Midgar, still had the look of an upper level corporate drone. But, he thought as he read the report again, he was a leader of people now, not a businessman. And yet there were times that he thought he could not discern the difference between the two lives. Moral choices, he thought, considering what he had read.

He had not told any of the group…not Barret, down below rebuilding North Corel, not Cid Highwind, who was piloting the Highwind on a variety of missions, nor Yuffie Kisaragi, back home in Wutai…of the truth about Cait Sith. They had assumed that the mechanoid cat he had used to infiltrate their group to be some sort of exceptional machine, when in fact a great deal of the technology involved was fairly old. Especially the surveillance devices that had allowed him to hear every conversation that Cloud and the others had had, even when he was not in close proximity to them. Those had been developed by the Shinra's Public Safety division years ago for the explicit purpose of spying on those deemed a threat to security, and their design had only improved. He had taken the time to place these devices near the locations of the members of the team, telling himself as he did that it was to keep an eye on them in case Shinra forces moved against them, and that was true, but the fact remained that he was spying on them, and that left a bad taste in his mouth.

And even now, with what had happened the previous night in Nibelheim proving to him that watching Cloud and the others served a purpose, Reeve still felt as if he had done something wrong.

Hojo had called Cloud an incomplete clone of Sephiroth, but Reeve, who had gotten his hands on the research data of the insane scientist after the fall of Midgar, knew that was somewhat inaccurate. Sephiroth had been believed dead when Hojo had experimented on Cloud and his friend Zack, and Hojo's theories had required a living being with a cellular relation to the alien Jenova in order to work. What Hojo had done to Cloud and Zack was a modification of the Jenova Process that created members of SOLDIER that had grafted and spliced Jenova's DNA to theirs in rather specific combinations that had created certain alterations to Cloud in particular. Those modifications had allowed Cloud to be in resonance with Jenova, and with Sephiroth as well, though not to the extent of the black-cloaked men that had followed Sephiroth to the Northern Crater, but by no means did that make Cloud a clone of Sephiroth. The personality traits that he shared with Zack had been generated by five years of close psychic proximity to Zack, the Jenovan DNA replicating them flawlessly. The long and short of it was, Cloud was the sum of many parts, and it had been perhaps wishful thinking to believe that his personalities could be fused into one harmonious whole. Reading the transcript of what had been said between Cloud and Tifa the night before, and worse, reading the actions that the surveillance techs had said had occurred proved that fact to Reeve beyond any shadow of a doubt. _He thinks he can save Aeris, _Reeve thought, _and he hit Tifa. Said he would kill her if she followed._ That was the troubling thing, really, that he had hurt Tifa. It had been painfully obvious to Reeve, and to anyone who watched, that Tifa had been in love with Cloud, even as she had battled the memory of Aeris that they all had carried. And while Cloud had not quite returned her love, he had cared about her, and last night, he had hurt her. _But he hurt even Aeris, at the Temple of the Ancients, and very nearly killed her as well._ That he had done those things under the control of Sephiroth frightened Reeve.

__

Is Sephiroth back? Why did Cloud pick now to try to resurrect Aeris? And how do we stop him?

Reeve picked up his PHS from the top of the desk and turned it on. Stored inside it's memory were the numbers of the team and a few others, and Reeve began making a few calls. The first was to the commanders of the SOLDIER force that he had stationed around the Northern Crater, in the event that Sephiroth was not truly gone, or the WEAPONS, who had returned to their slumber, resumed their rampage. He told the person that he reached that there was a strong possibility that Cloud was heading their way, a prospect that did not appeal to the commander in question. Cloud was the best swordsman alive, a warrior of incomprehensible power, and no one person could defeat him in battle. Reeve gave orders to the commander that they were not to engage Cloud in battle unless there was strong evidence that his behavior could be connected to Sephiroth. The commander seemed relieved at that part of his order, Reeve mused as he hung up and made a call to Cid. He ordered Cid to route the Highwind from it's current mission to Nibelheim to check on Tifa, saying that he had reason to suspect that she was in danger. He wasn't quite ready to tell his friends what had happened just yet.

Cid, in his perfectly straightforward manner, had something to say about that. "What did that spiky haired goofball do to her?" he spat.

"Cid, just get to Nibelheim ASAP," Reeve replied. "Then get to Gold Saucer fast." He hung up before Cid could ask anymore questions. He sighed, then made one last call to Barret Wallace, asking him to come to Gold Saucer at once. Given that Tifa and Barret were rather close, Reeve decided to keep the details to himself until he could tell Barret face to face. Barret, of course, wondered what he wanted, and Reeve simply said "Come to my office and I'll tell you," and had disconnected. He dropped the phone to the desk and took a deep breath. Sometimes, caring for the common good was rather hard to do, he mused. 

Koji Matsumoto was normally an easygoing fellow, not one quick to anger or prone to rash actions. He attributed that, if you asked him, to the years of training he received under the sword masters of Wutai, his homeland, the harshest trainers of men at arms on the Planet. He had been schooled since he could walk and carry a practice blade in the virtues of patience, of calm control melding mind and body into one. _ Your blade is not the weapon, _he had been taught, _nor is the hand that draws it. It is the mind that controls the hand that chooses when to draw the blade that is the weapon. _Koji knew this to be true, and since leaving Wutai months ago at the behest of his father to learn of the world, his mind had been his best weapon. He had only drawn his dai-katana, Divine Wing, to fight the monsters and Mako mutants that still plagued the Planet, and never to fight a man. He had done his ancestors proud, behaving as a true bladesman of Wutai. But now, crouching in the tall grass outside of a camp on the Midgar Plains, the sun of the afternoon shining on him, that was about to change. He hoped his father would forgive him for what he was about to do. If not, well, he could get over it.

The camp was a group of Shinra issue combat tents, used when the Shinra Army was encamped in the field. It was laid out in a rough circle around a Mako-fueled troop transport, and Koji had seen better in regards to security. Inside the camp, Koji had counted some twenty ex-Shinra soldiers, deserters from the army of Junon by reputation, who had arrived in the area some six weeks ago and had started terrorizing the nearby town of Kalm. At first it had been fairly tolerable, not much worse than the treatment the town had gotten from the Shinra before Meteor, no more than drunken vandalism and bullying the natives of the rustic mining town. But, according to the mayor, who had told Koji this earlier that day, it had gotten worse when the troopers had realized that the mining operations in the mithril mines had not resumed (the mines were still overrun with monsters). Apparently their sole reason for coming to Kalm was to reap the benefits of the mines, believing for some reason that the mines had re-opened, and when that had been not the case, the violence had escalated. Homes were shot up and people were beaten and robbed in a cycle of pain that had culminated in an act so evil that once Koji had heard of it in the bar of the inn in Kalm he had volunteered his sword for Kalm's cause. _Bastards,_ he thought in a rare moment of genuine venom for him, watching the troopers as they went about their tasks, which seemed to amount to eating, drinking, and cleaning their Shinra issue machine guns. Their security was terribly lacking, even given that it was broad daylight-Koji had already left the one sentry that he had found unconscious, tied up and with a rag stuck in his mouth to gag him twenty minutes earlier-and if he had wished, he could have waited for the night to fall and killed all of them in stealth. But Koji was not there to kill all of them if he could help it, just one man, who stood by the transport truck in the crimson uniform of a SOLDIER, Third Class, the leader of the band. He was tall, powerfully built, with dull, almost vapid features; slung over his shoulder was a two handed broadsword typical of the blades used by SOLDIER. Koji heard his swordmasters again, speaking of the skills that a SOLDIER possessed:_ You can not underestimate those of SOLDIER, for their power and speed can offset the advantages of speed and technique. However, this is also their greatest weakness, for they rely more on the power than their skill, and a man of true strength can use that to his advantage._ Koji hoped that he was strong.

Koji rose to his feet; he was typical of the people of Wutai, slight in build, a shade over five foot ten inches tall, with long black hair and almond shaped brown eyes. He wore practical hiking clothes, eschewing the traditional garb of his people for comfort, and the only sign that he was a warrior was the diamond bangle that he wore and the sword of his father that he wore on his hip, the dai-katana Divine Wing. His father had entrusted him with the blade on the day that he had left Wutai, one of the few times that Kenji Matsumoto had shown a sign of pride in his son. _Guide my blade, father, _Koji thought. He walked into the camp in such a calm, quiet manner that he had nearly reached the center of the camp before one of the troopers saw him and spat "What the fuck?!", jumping to his feet. The other troopers turned his way, snapping up their weapons and training them on him. _They could kill me in a heartbeat, _Koji thought as the SOLDIER looked him over with a mixture of surprise and malice on his face._ But they're waiting for him._ Koji halted ten feet away from the SOLDIER and called, "Hello. May I assume that you are the SOLDIER, Jason Daugmir, that leads this band?"

Daugmir chuckled. "That I am, pal. Who the hell are you?"

"I am a representative of the mayor of Kalm. I have only recently arrived in town, and I have heard of the disputes between your band and Kalm. I volunteered my services to the mayor as a mediator. The mayor wishes to broker a settlement with you."

"Does he now? And why exactly are you volunteering your services to the mayor?" Daugmir sneered.

"I have my reasons. The mayor has two proposals that he wishes to convey to you. Do you wish to hear them?"

Daugmir considered it, and, as Koji had hoped, decided to toy with the fly that was in his web. "Why the hell not?"

"Very well. The first offer is that you will be retained as the city militia for Kalm. You will be granted property as well as a percentage of any profits of any businesses that exist in Kalm."

Daugmir snorted. "There's not a lot of money to be made there."

"It's enough for you to steal, is it not?" Koji smiled, knowing that that barb had sunken in. "Mr. Daugmir, at present the Midgar Plains are of no concern to either Palmer in Junon or Reeve in Gold Saucer. But sooner or later, authority will return to Kalm. As it stands at present, you are deserters to one side and outlaws to the other, and your odds will not be good. This allows you a chance to survive."

"Aren't you a glib son of a bitch?" Daugmir looked around at his men and, Koji supposed, judged them worthy of taking on the world. "Nah, I don't think so. What's the other offer?"

"The other offer was to me, actually." The first offer did not actually exist; it had been suggested to him by someone else. "I am to kill you." With that, Koji drew Divine Wing and struck at Daugmir, and was not surprised when Daugmir managed to draw his blade and barely parried the blow. _He's fast, _Koji thought, trying not to think about the fact that this was the first time that he had ever fought a death duel with a man, and he had chosen a SOLDIER Third Class to begin with. _You could have been a bit **less **ambitious, _Koji thought.

Kai kept Daugmir on the defensive as the camp erupted in the sort of coarse shouts that made the battle seem less like a duel and more like a barroom brawl. Divine Wing blurred in intricate silver patterns, its advance barely blocked by Daugmir's blade. Surprise was working doubly in Koji's favor; Daugmir had been taken aback by the very fact of the attack and by the skill that Koji struck with. Koji drove Daugmir back around the truck, leaping over a broad sweep at his legs and landing on the hood of the vehicle. Daugmir swung his blade at Koji's feet and missed as Koji bounded over him; the force of the strike clove the hood of the truck and the engine in two. Koji landed behind him and charged, knocking Daugmir's sword aside and slashing his cheek, drawing blood. Daugmir raised a hand to his cheek, feeling the wetness there, and then asked, his voice trembling slightly " Who the fuck are you?"

Koji assumed a basic defensive stance; one drilled into him when he was still a child. "My name is Koji Matsumoto of Clan Matsumoto of the Mist Hills of Wutai." Realization crossed Daugmir's face, proof that SOLDIER still remembered the name of Clan Matsumoto. He raised Divine Wing so Daugmir could see his blood on the edge of the blade. "I am Death."

"Melodramatic, aren't you?"

Koji smiled, thinly. This duel was over. He could see it in Daugmir's eyes, in his posture, in how he held the blade, and Koji realized that his father was right, that a battle was fought in the arena of the mind as well as the body, and defeating a man mentally defeated him physically. "I can afford to be. You can't defeat me."

"Really?" Daugmir attacked, bringing his blade down in an overhand strike that to most people would be a blur of steel, but Koji was not most people. With the barest of motions, he moved aside, and Divine Wing sliced into Daugmir's heart, cutting it in half. Blood burst from Daugmir's mouth, and he dropped his sword, an expression of infinite shock on his face. "Why?" he asked in a whisper.

"I'm sure that girl you raped and murdered asked you the same thing." Koji pulled his blade from Daugmir's body, whirling away as the SOLDIER fell dead. Silence filled the camp as the troopers stared at this youth-Koji was not yet 20-who had bested their leader, the man they had followed from the Army to life as outlaws, in amazement. Koji studied the band and said, "Gentlemen, my business was with him. I do not wish to battle you."

"Too bad, " one of the troopers replied, "because we sure as shit do. You shouldn't have come here alone, pal."

Koji grinned, a rarity for him. "Do you think I would do something as stupid as come in here alone? Oh, Maggie?" I'm going to look very stupid, he thought, if she isn't in position to help me. For a brief second he saw himself explaining to his ancestors in the afterworld how he had had a good plan, and it had just had not quite worked…and then half the camp erupted in a ball of flame, the signature of a Level 3 Fire spell. Koji ducked and ran in the opposite direction as several men caught fire, and as he expected, an explosion rocked half the camp, ammunition for the machine guns and grenades going off. _I think you overdid it, Maggie, _Koji thought. Two troopers were in his way, and Koji simply mowed them down with two slashes of Divine Wing. Behind him, the survivors of the Fire spell were running in a panic, some trying to put out the fires that burned already dead comrades, others firing wildly in all directions. Koji was wondering if he was going to die, victim of a stay bullet, when the air filled with static, his hair standing on end. _Well, this should be interesting, _Koji thought as the electrical discharge of a Level 3 Bolt spell rolled across the camp. The spell caught the truck and tore it apart in an explosion that rocked the camp and, finally, sent the remnants of the band running for their collective lives. Koji looked over his shoulder and for a moment he smiled, then he headed for the clump of trees that was where he was supposed to meet the person who had caused such sudden destruction; he had a few words for her…

As Koji approached the trees, a figure leaned out from behind one of them and called "You know, I could have done that from here and saved you the trouble of killing that goof," She was a tall, athletic girl, pretty, with short brown hair and pale blue eyes and something of an impish quality about her. Like Koji, she was dressed for the practical realities of traveling, and like Koji, there were few signs that she possessed any kind of power. The only true sign was in the crystal bangle she wore, one green, one red, and one yellow materia set in the bangle. How Magdalena Covenant had gotten her hands on Mastered materia, materia that possessed all the qualities of specific types of materia, was perhaps something that Koji did not wish to know, but Maggie-as she preferred to be called-was perhaps the most adept magic user Koji had ever seen. She shook her head and added, "But you had to walk in there on your own and make yourself a target to those idiots."

Koji stopped in front of Maggie and said, in a manner far less serious than he had spoken to Daugmir-that had largely been an act designed to impress his serious demeanor upon Daugmir-

"Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"That's the worst part. Now every time we run into a situation like that, you'll just barge right in with your Wutai combat Zen and expect to succeed." Maggie bopped him on the head playfully. "Good thing I hooked up with you or you'd be in trouble right now."

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't decided to see what kind of trouble you were trying to get into." Koji had met Maggie in the ruins of Midgar, during something of a free for all between two rival bandit gangs that were clashing over control of the Wall Market, which now existed as a free trade zone. Koji had dispatched three members of one gang with his bare hands, impressing Maggie, and after the battle she had asked him to accompany her on her rather unusual quest. "I can use a swordsman, and until I meet one I guess you'll do," she had said in a sarcastic manner that Koji gathered was something of a normal way of behaving for her. Koji, who was more interested in using the rough terrain and chaotic nature of Midgar to train in, had declined her initial offer, but as time wore on, he had grown more interested in the idea, and he had accepted if only to see why she was going to do what she said she was. And at any rate, he could think of worse traveling companions than a pretty girl like Maggie…although at times like this it was difficult to do. Maggie's quest had led them to Kalm, and during their time there, trying to find what they needed to continue on their path, Koji had heard of the night that Jason Daugmir had made an example of the daughter of the mayor's sister, in the event the mayor had decided to resist the band. And that had led them here. "We'd better get back to Kalm," Koji said. "Those idiots are running now, but they may develop a backbone soon, and I don't want to see any more bloodshed today."

Maggie frowned. "A swordsman of Clan Matsumoto of Wutai isn't interested in a fight? Whoa."

"I'm trained to avoid that sort of thing. My father would be disappointed that I killed Daugmir over a matter of someone else's honor." Koji did not want to tell Maggie that today was the first day that he had killed a man, and the thought did not sit well with him. _You are a weapon, _his father had told him, _but you are also a man, and men think and feel. You will feel remorse for your victims, no matter how correct your actions, for you are only a man._ For once Koji agreed with his father. "We'd best get going."

"Sure," Maggie replied, settling into step beside of him as he walked towards Kalm in the northeast. For her part, Maggie sensed that something was troubling the young warrior, but decided not to press it. She had never in her life-and she had been born in Midgar and had seen SOLDIER act against the population of the city on many occasions-seen a fighter like Koji Matsumoto, and she knew he would prove useful on her quest. _Assuming that he doesn't stop us half a million times on some matter of "someone else's honor,"_ she mused. 

Kalm was a rustic town that, other than being once a thriving mining town, was known for being the nearest outpost of civilization outside of Midgar. Like a great many villages across the Planet, it was laid out around a central courtyard, a remnant, Maggie had heard once, of the days before the Shinra, when the villages had been local fiefdoms ruled by their leaders. On the subject of local leaders, the mayor, a thin, pale man named Thailor was standing in the courtyard, wringing his hands nervously, and clearly waiting for them to return. Thailor had chosen to end them after Daugmir, he had claimed, against the desires of a great many of the important townsfolk. They had found the crimes of the band as abhorrent as anyone had, but they had believed that Maggie and Koji would fail. Thailor noticed them and rushed over, which drew the attention of the other people in the town square. _Well, so much for the quiet approach, _Maggie thought. Thailor came to a halt in front of them and asked, nervously, " Well, did you locate them? What happened!"

Koji gripped Divine Wing with his right hand. "We found them. Daugmir is dead, as is most of his band. I imagine right now the local scavengers are devouring them as we speak."

The locals began to whisper among themselves as Thailor considered the young fighter. "How do I know that you aren't lying to me? You brought no proof."

"You can go check tomorrow, if you'd like. The ruins of their camp are four miles due southeast of Kalm. However, I'm also of Clan Matsumoto. I give my word that Jason Daugmir is dead."

__

That'll really impress them, Maggie thought. Koji just didn't have enough of the businessman in him. "Koji is telling the truth, sir," she interjected, " and as soon as you check on it, you'll see. So there is the matter of payment for our services." Koji had been willing to kill Daugmir for nothing, but Maggie was a bit more on the pragmatic side. Thailor gave her a sidelong, nervous look, clearly wondering if maybe he had merely traded one problem for another. "Oh, don't worry, sir, we aren't asking for much. You see, Koji and I are headed for the Northern Continent, and we require transport. Can you help us?" 

The fact that Maggie knew that he could allowed her to see through his poker face. "We could. There is the supply ship to Bone Village…we haven't sent it lately since Daugmir's band was here…in fact I need to contact them and let them know what has happened."

"So it can be arranged?" Maggie asked.

"Of a certainty. I'll contact the pilot of the ship and tell him to prepare." Thailor walked briskly away, as if trying to escape before Maggie thought better and demanded more. Koji studied his associate and said, "I wondered why you went along with this too easily. When did you hear about this?"

"When I was in Midgar. Ran into a guy who'd come back on the same boat. Thought we'd just buy our way on, but this was so much better. And we weren't going to get there until Daugmir was gone, so, two birds, single stone."

Koji smiled. "You are devious and evil. And I'm glad you're on my side. Now let's get something to eat." Koji headed for the inn, realizing that he had learned more than one valuable lesson today, and the most important might have been that he could never underestimate Maggie. _She might just pull this crazy quest of hers off_, he thought. _Assuming that she doesn't blow me up first._

Time had mellowed Barret Wallace somewhat.

When Reeve had met him, through the robotic guise of Cait Sith, Barret had been an angry man, furious at the world for what it had taken from him…his hometown, his wife, his right hand, all taken by the Shinra, but mostly his pride. Barret's war as the leader of AVALANCHE, in the opinion of Reeve, had been less about saving the Planet (although Barret had been very sincere about that) and more about raging against the forces that had ruined him. But the near-destruction of the Shinra had cooled the fires inside of Barret, and the hard working miner he had once been had replaced the warrior in him. He was now rebuilding his hometown of North Corel, and the bitterness and rage had been pushed back into the background.

But all that meant was, by his standards, Barret had calmed down; by Reeve's standards, Barret was still quite temperamental.

"Let me see if I get this shit straight," Barret snarled, stalking in a circle in front of Reeve's desk. "Cloud has gone nuts again, he might have hurt Tifa, and, oh, just for kicks, you've been spyin' on all of us! Does that cover it all?" Barret waved his gunhand, which was fitted with the relatively simple Gatling Gun weapon-he had taken off the insanely powerful Missing Score after the end of the Meteor affair-around the room, which wasn't something Reeve liked to see. "You still act like Shinra trash, Reeve!"

"Perhaps I do. But I think the thing we need to consider is that Cloud has suffered a breakdown, and is attempting to reach the Promised Land. Right now Cloud Strife is the most powerful being on the Planet, and stopping him won't be easy."

"Why the hell should we stop him? What if he could save Aeris?"

Reeve glared at Barret. "I know why you said that, Barret, but the fact remains that Cloud hurt Tifa. It's rather…_Shinra…_of you to forget her pain."

"You son of a bitch, you know I care about Tifa too. But…but if Sephiroth could come back, why not Aeris?"

Reeve sighed. "Aeris was a miracle, Barret, and there isn't a day that I don't think about her. But she's gone, and that's that. She's with the Planet now, with her people. Let her rest."

Barret pointed at the transcript of the surveillance data, which he had read and tossed back at Reeve in disgust. "Cloud seems to think that she don't wanna rest."

"How do we know what compels him isn't Sephiroth?"

Barret snorted. "Why the hell would Sephiroth want him to resurrect Aeris?"

Reeve chuckled. "I never said he would want that. But if you wanted Cloud to do something for you, what you be the best lever to make him do it?"

Realization flooded Barret's face. "Aeris."

"Which is why we have to find him, and see what's making him do this. If he's suffered a breakdown, that's bad. If by some odd chance, Aeris can be saved, then perhaps we will, and if it is Sephiroth, then we will stop it. But we must know, Barret!"

Barret's shoulders slumped, as they usually did when events overwhelmed him. "What do we do?"

"I've sent Cid to collect Tifa. When she gets her, we'll plan our next move. We probably don't have time to find Yuffie or Vincent, so it'll have to be us…and a few others."

Barret snorted. "Assuming they don't haul ass the second they see him. They known for that."

"Which is true."

Cid Highwind did not need this shit.

He was happiest when he was flying, or working on a flying vehicle, such as the airship _Highwind, _which he and the Shinra Space Program techs from Rocket Town had rebuilt around the core of the escape craft that had survived the last flight into the Northern Crater. He still dreamed of one day returning to space, and that dream was enough to motivate him. Being Reeve's errand boy rankled him, but it did allow him to fly…but now that had been interrupted by Reeve's order to get to Nibelheim ASAP. _That freaky boy Cloud, _he thought. _Tifa's one of the most beautiful women I've ever known, inside and out. Why the hell would he do anything to hurt her?_ He wondered if things were going to get weird again; they tended to when Cloud was involved.

Cid had set the _Highwind _down just outside of Nibelheim, and as he approached the town, carrying his preferred weapon, the Venus Gospel, in one hand, his crew was working on the starboard auxiliary turbojet engine. He had pushed the airship to its limits in getting it to Nibelheim, and one of the engines had flamed out. _Another damned thing I owe Reeve for._ He walked into Nibelheim, which was as quiet as the grave, and for a moment, he felt fear. _I overflew the town before we landed…how could Tifa had missed me? Lord, I hope that spiky headed idiot didn't kill her!_ Cid walked out into the town square, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled "TIFA!" as loud as he could.

"You don't have to yell so loud," a quiet voice said from above him.

As he looked around, Tifa walked around the platform that ringed the well at the center of town. She was dressed in a robe, but that didn't catch Cid's attention as much as the bruise that marked her cheek or the redness of her eyes, a sign that she had been weeping. "God damn, what did he do to you?" Cid asked.

"Cloud…Cloud's confused. He thinks that he can save Aeris, and I tried to stop him, and he, he…" Tears welled in her eyes. "He hurt me, Cid."

"No shit he did." Cid gripped Venus Gospel in his hand tight enough that his knuckles went white. _I ain't no nice guy; hell, I treated Shera like shit for ages. But goddamn Cloud, I never hit a woman, and not one that loved me!_ Part of him wondered if his fury was directed at himself, he knew, for the mental abuse that he had put Shera through, and he decided that it probably was. "Tifa, it's gonna be okay. Reeve sent me to get you." _He must be spying on us, because otherwise I can't figure out how he knew that this happened._ He made a mental note to sweep the _Highwind _for listening devices later. "Whatever Cloud's doing, we'll fix it."

Tifa looked blankly at him for a moment before she asked, "Can you give me the man I love back, Cid?"

And for that Cid had no answer. "Well, I dunno, Tifa, but maybe we can help him, somehow."

Tifa sighed and began to climb down off the well. "I don't think he wants to be helped, Cid." _But of course I'll help him, _she thought. _Because if nothing else, it's my curse._

Cloud rode Strider across the ice plains outside of Icicle Lodge, moving to the north, confident that the gold chocobo's innate ability to traverse any terrain, even water, would carry him to his goal. His eyes did not see the world around him, for in a sense he was in a trance, hearing the voice of Aeris, begging him to be saved. He had failed her twice, first by letting Sephiroth kill her, then by not acting on his suspicion that she could be found in the Promised Land; he would not fail her again._ We will be together again, my love, and the world will be right once again._ Cloud rode to the north, not realizing that the effort that Strider was putting out would at best exhaust the chocobo and more likely kill him, and if he had known, he most likely would not have cared.

(author's note: this may or may not be an Aeris resurrection fic. You'll just have to keep reading.)

Jack Roberts

[http://grievangel.cjb.net][1]

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   [1]: http://grievangel.cjb.net/



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